just laughing at their comments

i would take Top Gear assesment more realistically

"The Volvo C30 is a good looking and interesting little Volvo. Strangely lacking in usefulness, yet we like it."

we went from looking at mid-higher priced luxo cars to buying a DD, in about week. she didn't like the corolla or civic, so that leaves mazda, back to reliability again and price. we were going to buy a new '12 maz3 grand touring w/ a stick, till i found this deal.

we'll pay it off in 2-3 yrs and enjoy not having payments ( for that car)and hopefully no maintence, though i think this turbo setup will be more then the lil P5 we just came off of.

kinda hard to compare materials and such on a 36k vs a 25k (or realistically $22k) car.

not sure what your qualifications for build quality are but i'll put a mazda long term vs a volvo long term any day.

Has Volvo gone to shit recently?

I see Volvo's with HUGE mileage all the time. The older models are as solid as older Benz's.

Hell, when we were looking for a family hauler, all the used XC90's were pushing or over 100,000 miles in just a few years. Volvo drivers tend to drive.

Here's a shocker for you, Ed: Not everthing made in Japan is perfect and not everything bought from Europe is for "status".

Yeah I don't get that bad Volvo idea... Most of even the old ones are rolling big mileage.

I would personally put any Volvo up against any Mazda. I was just talking about this debate today with a buddy who works at a Ford / Volvo dealer. He agrees, said Mazda's rattle more than a texas rattler once they pass 15k on the clock.

Which ever... I do understand trying to keep the price point down. Heck maybe even that means you will get some extra rattles and such.

Oh and thanks for not buying a soulless sedan like corolla or civic.

My parents have owned a 2001 V70 T5 from new that has had some fairly significant and expensive issues. The primary annoyance is the front suspension bushings wearing out every 40k miles or so requiring a few days and over a grand to fix each time. That work has been done 3 times by 2 different dealers with each saying that is just how it is with a sport suspension.

Bs, they're bulletproof! Lol

Yes.

Mazda 3's, even the base ones, have always been great buys...... way better than Civics or Fits or Corollas. But I agree about Mazda interiors, they are kind of chintzy and teenager-like, with the ghey red stitching and the over-dramatized "pod" style of the dashboard. But come to think of it, all sub-$30K Asian cars have chintzy interiors IMO, even Honda and Toyota. I rented a 2012 Camry SE recently, and was disappointed in all the hard plastic, the ugly blue info-center, and the road noise. Seems like Japan has definitely stagnated while America has caught up. But of course European interiors have alwasy been on top. A GTI interior is as good as an Audi.

The yen is so strong these days the Japanese have had to cut back to keep margins up. Mazda interiors are much nicer today than they were a few years ago. The 2013s at the auto show were finally about adequate. They've always driven really well (zoom zoom!) but the interiors were always half a step back.

installed Short shift plate, solid shifter bushings and upper front stress bar (weird our old p5 had one, but this "performance car" didn't have one)

shift plate mod is awesome, super short throws now. other stuff, meh.

going to install a Rear motor mount this weekend.

getting ceramic Huper Optik tint on the car